Den's Tea

My boyfriend had the first steep, and I had the second. Delicious and refreshing. I hope we get over our colds soon!

My order from Lupicia came in this past weekend and I was so pleased! It was my first tine ordering from them. They included 2 samples! So I decided to use my new Handy Cooler, which is super cute by the way, and cold-brewed Den’s Tea Sakura Sencha. I let it sit in the fridge overnight and took the filter out in the morning! Soo good and refreshing! Some of the slim and tiny leaves and small flowers fell through into the pitcher. The steep was a light green/yellow and was a bit hazy. The taste was delicious. It wasn’t bitter at all. I love the floral and grassy notes in this. Yum!

Delicious! Each time I reach for this tea, it tastes different to me. It is probably because I’m not very accurate in my steeping parameters. I usually estimate. Smells excellent and tastes smooth. It has a nice, subtle cherry accent to it, especially when I let it roll around in my mouth. I know it might sound gross, but I like doing it. _

Yummy! On the plus side, I am finished with my surgical rotation!!! yay! I feel relaxed these days and I finally have some quality time to spend with tea.

Had some a little while ago and it was a little grassier than before…not as much cherry…hum…still pretty good tho…

Another tea that has a bunch of positive reviews here on steepster and another tea from LiberTEAs…I’m very grateful! :)

This has a very delicate smell and had I not known that it was cherry blossom I would probably still be trying to find the words to explain what exactly it was that I am smelling. But it’s Green Tea and Cherry Blossom indeed!

I really love the pretty little pearls laying perfectly on top of the green tea leaves in this loose leaf mixture. They glitter and dance thanks to the intense fluorescent bulbs above my desk cubicle. The after-infusion liquid is the perfect green tea color. Perfection…what ever other green tea should strive to be color-wise. Okay…I might be over selling it a bit but not by much. I really think the color is perfect tho.

The taste is thirst-quenching and tasty…slightly floral and sweet. It’s a true delight!

For what it is and what you pay, this is great value. Excellent flavor and quality for being in a pyramid tea bag. If you want to drink Sencha often and keep things cheap, this is a good way to go.

Again, this isn’t an 85 if you compare it to other Sencha or other types of Japanese Green Tea. But if you compare it to other Senchas in tea bags, then it is very good.

Rating -
For Sencha: 74/100
For Green Tea: 64/100
Value: 100/100
Overall: 84

I’ve never logged this tea! It was one of the very first green teas that I ever had.
I recently bought some, because I had only had a sample of it very early on. I’ve had a cold recently, so that may have affected my opinion some . . .
However, this is a great, everyday tea. I kept thinking I wished it was slightly more roasted tasting, than umami or sweet tasting (it is none of those in a strong degree, but leans slightly more toward umami or sweet).

But anyway, it is well balanced and though not my favorite from Den’s Tea, I’d enjoy a cup of it anytime.

I made a small cup of this (maybe 6oz) with 1/2 tsp of matcha…it was better than my first attempt. I have just been using a small whisk in my tea cup (not ready to really get into it with all the proper tools/matcha bowl, etc), so that could effect how well it mixes and tastes.

However, my wife and I had vanilla icecream the other day and I sifted a heaping 1/8 tsp of it onto the top of each bowl. That was very good, though I probably could have used even more since the vanilla flavor was so strong.

This is my first experience with Matcha, so it is hard to compare it to anything.

As others have said, it is very smoothe—however, it does have a little bit of a bitter flavor that I did not taste when I drank other Den’s Teas that had matcha added. The bitterness wasn’t terrible, but it hasn’t made me excited about Matcha. I will say that this Matcha is good enough to show me what the taste/texture of Matcha is aiming for, and it helps me to imagine what a good Matcha could taste like…. so I do want to try a higher quality one sometime. However, I’m not ready to go out and buy 20g more…so hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to try a cup of the high quality stuff to see if its worth paying the higher price.

Nonetheless, this is good value for the price. If you like Matcha and have a limited budget, you probably won’t go wrong with this.

For Matcha of this quality/cost (just a guess): 84
For Green Tea (just a guess): 74
Overall (just a guess): 79

I’ve been hearing about how good iced houjicha is, so I finally tried it.
I wanted a big pitcher full, so I used 36oz water and 3 heaping TBSP (9 tsp, as the formula is 1 tsp per 4 oz water) of leaf.
After I got the water to a boil, I poured it over the leaves in our big glass teapot. I let it steep a little longer than suggested to make sure it was strong, filtered the tea into the pitcher and once it cooled to room temp put it in the fridge.

(You know what, even though its kind of boring to read, I put all those directions in most of my tasting notes in case I ever come back and want to know how I made something, in case it turned out well. Also, in case there is someone else who wanted to try it.)

Anyway, iced houjicha IS good. Strong sweetness, light roasted flavor, the benefits of iced tea without the bitterness you get from many mass produced, bagged black iced teas. I shouldn’t even compare the two, as they aren’t in the same category, but having dark-colored iced tea in a pitcher reminded me of what everyone drinks in the South (Lipton, Luzianne, etc.), but tasted SO much better.

Definitely recommended!

We have a friend who lived in Morocco and at a recent visit, taught us how to make the real thing — Moroccan mint tea. You need Chinese Gunpowder green tea as the base, but we didn’t have itunfortunately. My wife had the genius idea of using Houjicha Gold — I was a bit concerned because of the thought that the roasted flavor could take over, but since I knew this could take boiling water, we tried it anyway. (For loose leaf, we didn’t have any other options that could take boiling water very well).

We went out to the small garden in front of our place and picked enough fresh mint to fill up a whole English pot (40oz water) full of mint leaves. We boiled around 36 oz water, added 6 tsp sugar, and poured it over the leaves. Then we turned the fire back on until the water re-boiled. I poured 12 oz this mint-water over the (3 tsp loose leaf) houjicha in a smaller pot, and steeped the houjicha according to the normal directions (boiling for 30 seconds). (Thus, we were able to re-steep the houjicha 3x using 12 oz each time.)

It came out extremely delicious! Minty, sweet, and a very small hint of roastedness.
Our friend said it was reminiscent of the times having tea in Morocco with friends. :-) The secret was using fresh peppermint (especially from right there in the garden!). SO delicious. If this was a separate tea of its own, I’d give it a 90-95.

I’m sure we’ll make it again when more peppermint becomes available.

I opened this tea and let my two-year-old smell it. She just said, “Papa, kann ich ein bisschen essen?” (Papa, can I eat a little?) She didn’t know what it was, but that is how delicious the aroma of this tea is,—even a little kid wants to eat it!

The aroma of the brewed tea itself is delcious too; and in my new yunomi the color looked almost as dark as coffee. Such a good tea and I love having it around to switch things up from the normal steamed greens I’ve been drinking.

Got this in the $3 sampler pack…

When I was a kid, I used to use a magnifying lens to burn leaves that had fallen from trees. I remember it always brought out a very nice, roasted smell from the leaf.
This tea has that exact same smell that I remember from childhood!

Once brewed, it has a nice roasted aroma and taste, but yet is still comes across as being refreshing. However it ends with a surprising sweetness that makes you want to gulp it down. Plus it’s nice to be able to drink it in the evening with the low caffeine.

I have yet to try it iced but it’s on my to do list!

Rating -
For Houjicha (in my very limited experience): 92/100
For Green Tea Overall: 82/100
Overall: 87

This is, simply put, one of my favorite teas. Glad to have it back in the cupboard.

Had the last of this yesterday.
I brewed it at a bit lower to get the sencha to come through; it had a subtle but tasty umami flavor, but I actually think I prefer it with a more fruity taste and the sencha coming through underneath (instead of being the dominant flavor).

I’m going to miss this until next year, but it is fun to have something to look forward to.

When I compare this with Hashiri Sencha, I have to raise the latter up to at least equal it. In terms of flavor itself and personal preference, this is still my favorite tea right now.
However, the quality, value (5+ steepings for Hashiri, as opposed to maybe 2-3 for Sakura), and taste range of Hashiri is amazing; so really, it’s a “better” tea than the Sakura.

This is my favorite tea right now…

I’m upping this a little – it is SO good. Had a cup yesterday morning and again this morning…Always delicious. I should have bought more than just 2oz. …when I run out I’m going to have to wait until next spring :( !

Had a cup this morning – delicious! as always. Cherry, flowery, buttery, full-mouth feel.

Really looking forward to the Hashiri Sencha shipment next week! I’ve also ordered Pear Sencha iced-tea.

The aroma is wonderful—deliciously cherry-without smelling like fake cherry cough syrup. I almost like opening the bag and smelling the tea as much as drinking it!

The taste is just enough cherry as to enhance the Sencha, without overpowering it. That’s the point of flavored senchas after all, right? To add a twist to the original, a new way to enjoy the normal cup of sencha.

If you find the cherry flavor not strong enough, especially on the 2nd brew, brew it hotter (between 190 – 200) and it will come out more.

Rating –
For Sakura Sencha: 100/100 (I doubt there are much better Sakura Senchas out there — any one challenge that, or have any suggestions to try?)
For Green Tea: 90/100
Overall: 95/100